As a recipient of one of the above scholarships, you will be required to have completed 120 hours of service to the campus or community during your first three years in order to renew your scholarship for your senior year. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to enhance and add value to your experience at MSU in ways that will benefit you and others. It is also consistent with the University’s public affairs mission.

The service requirement is administered by the Community Involvement and Service office and you will maintain a record of your completion using CampusLink, a tool that is used to record your community engagement acttivities and involvement. Early each fall semester, Community Involvement will host orientation sessions for entering scholarship recipients to review the service requirement, guidelines, and benefits and to provide training on the use of CampusLink. You will be required to attend one of these sessions and will receive an email announcement with information on the available times and dates. You will also be able to review current guidelines and service opportunities at www.missouristate.edu/scholarshipservice. Additionally, during the spring of your junior year, you will be asked to submit a statement reflecting on the service you have provided and what impact it has had on you.

We strongly encourage you to begin fulfilling your service requirement your freshman year.

Guidelines for Service Hours

The purpose of this is to define and explain the guidelines for what constitutes service for the Board of Governors, Multicultural Leadership, University, and Presidential Scholarships. This is not a policy and these guidelines can be updated and changed. Further some service experiences may exist in a paradox and need further discussion to constitute as service. Please e-mail volunteer@missouristate.edu with any questions or concerns to be discussed.

Tracking & Verification Process

All service hours need to be recorded on CampusLink through the following steps:

Step 1: my.missouristate.edu -> log in with your private ID and passwordStep 2: Click the profile tabStep 3: Click CampusLINKStep 4: Under Organizations choose Volunteer ProgramsStep 5: On the left side you will click the tab that says FormsStep 6: Choose Individual Report Form and Complete

Be sure to read the directions carefully, it is your responsibility to make sure you are actually submitting your hours. Do not use the "Service Report" feature in CampusLINK, we have no way of verifying any hours you complete using that feature.

30% of the hours submitted will be verified using the contact information provided through the online tracking form.

General Approved Service

Students should complete service with an approved agency. These include most 501c3 organizations if the service meets the requirements outlined here.

Hours will be given final approval on NobleHour after the student submits information

If students believe the agency may not be approved or service may not count, should e-mail volunteer@missouristate.edu to check prior to service. There will be no obligation to approve hours that do not meet the guidelines if it was not checked prior to service

Service should be addressing or bringing awareness to a humanitarian or community issue through an approved agency.

50% of the total hours (or 60 hours) may be completed on campus. See on campus service for more information

Service that does not count: philanthropy, service for clubs or organizations, voluntary activities that are not service, political campaigning, and religious instruction. See individual sections that follow for more information

On Campus Service

On Campus Service is service that is conducted for the benefit of Missouri State University

Examples of things that do not count: volunteering with a theater or play, being a Playfair Facilitator, being a teaching assistant, holding a leadership position on campus

Off Campus Service

Off Campus service is service that benefits those not associated with Missouri State University

Service conducted in the physical location of campus may still be “Off Campus Service” if the benefactor is someone not associated with Missouri State University (e.g. blanket making for children at a youth shelter conducted in a residence hall lounge on campus)

International service also constitutes Off Campus Service if marked on the service report form

International Service & Study Away

Service conducted in an international setting constitutes service, specifically as Off Campus Service

Study Away may count as service – it depends on the instructor of the course, an e-mail verification must be sent to volunteer@missouristate.edu to identify that the service counts

Travel & Training Times

Travel to and from the service location does not count as service, unless specifically part of the service, which should be pre-approved by emailing volunteer@missouristate.edu

Training or Orientation, if essential to the service and is conducted within one month prior to the service can be counted as service

Clubs , Religious & Civic Organizations

Service for a club or civic organization will not count as service. This includes: preparing for a meeting, serving on committees, and other operations of the organization

Service for a religious organization will not count as service. This includes: youth groups, worship services, parking, and other tasks related to the operation of the religious organization

Religious instruction of any sort does not count as service. If instruction is for a community educational interfaith purpose, e-mail volunteer@missouristate.edu to see if your hours will count

If your club, church, or civic organization conducts service for a humanitarian purpose that meets the other needs in the community (such as serving food for the hungry), your hours will count

Summer Camps/Programs

Summer camps can count as service. They receive a standard 8 hours of service per day of activities.

Service for the camp such as maintenance, operations, activities, and responding to crises count as service

Being an adult leader for a group that attends camp or providing religious instruction is considered a leadership position and will not count as service

Activities such as coaching will count as service, but travel time to games will not count

Compensation

If you receive compensation for the service, you cannot count it as service. Compensation includes monetary (pay or work study) or gifts to the individual

Receiving a t-shirt, free meal, or a place to sleep for an overnight camp is not considered compensation

Service-Learning Courses

Service as part of a Component Service-Learning course will count as service above 16 hours

Service as part of an Integrated Service-Learning course do not count as service

Service above and beyond the requirements for a course will count as service

Philanthropy

Philanthropy is the act of giving money or raising money and does not count as community service

Participating in a walk, run or similar event is considered as an act of raising money and is constituted as philanthropy

Service towards an organization that is holding a run/walk or similar event will be counted as service (e.g. helping set up for the walk, serving as greeters for the event)

Service to a Student Organization

Leadership positions do not count for service, nor do any work conducted in benefit of a student organization

Service conducted through a student organization for an outside organization will count as service, but the planning of the service event would not count as service

Political Activities/Advocacy Work

Any political campaign or event that promotes a candidate, political party, or political ideal will not count as service

Voter Registration drives will count as service if conducted through a non-partisan organization

Participating in advocacy work for a social issue will count as service

Blood Drives

Students will receive 1 hour of service for each time a successful blood donation is completed. There will be 2 hours awarded for double red donations. Students should complete the blood donation form when recording these hours